Arsenal finally into the CL quarter-finals again – beat Porto in penalty drama – Dagsavisen

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Ødegaard scored the first penalty as Arsenal won 4-2, and Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice followed the captain’s example. David Raya hit Wendell’s penalty on the post and saved the shot from Galeno.

– It means everything to be in the quarter-finals. It’s days like this that you play football to experience. We will celebrate tonight, Raya told TNT Sports.

– We worked a lot on penalties, and it paid off. It is big for the club to be in the quarter-finals for the first time in so many years.

Ødegaard was at the center of events throughout the match, which was won 1-0. He provided an adventurous set-up for Leandro Trossard’s goal just before half-time, but his own goal which would have sent Arsenal through after normal time was disallowed much to the chagrin of the home side.

In the 67th minute, Ødegaard lifted the ball into the goal for what everyone in the stadium thought was the goal that gave Arsenal the lead also overall. It happened after a misunderstanding between Pepe and goalkeeper Diogo Costa, who messed it up when they tried to keep Havertz off the ball.

Ødegaard tipped the rebound into the goal, but referee Clément Turpin chose to blow a free kick against Havertz, who had a small hold on Pepe’s shirt. It was a decision the Arsenal players had little understanding of, and manager Mikel Arteta shouted at himself a yellow card.

Gabriel Jesus and Ødegaard had great chances at the very end of the 2nd half, but did not succeed. It was 1-0 when the referee blew the whistle, and thus extra time had to be played. They ended goalless.

Porto made it very difficult for an Arsenal side that has swept aside all opposition in the Premier League so far in 2024.

Football magic

At the end of the first half, Arsenal were about to be frustrated by Porto’s well-organized defence, which had withstood strong pressure without conceding many great chances, but then Ødegaard produced some football magic from the top shelf and served Trossard.

The Belgian shot controlledly into the far corner from just outside the corner of the 5-metre box, and Arsenal had equalized Porto’s lead from the first match.

Until then, the 41-year-old super-veteran Pepe and his defensive colleagues had stifled Arsenal’s attempts to get revenge for the lackluster performance in the away game.

Cleaned up

Saka had several times led to an imbalance, but each time Pepe or one of his teammates managed to clean it up. Once, Pepe barely got his head on the ball and headed it over Havertz, who was ready at the far post.

Porto had their chances both before and after the break, although it was mostly Arsenal who pressed.

In the 67th minute, Pepe messed up for once, and together with Costa he sent Havertz to the ground while the ball bounced out to Ødegaard, who scored. The referee believed that Havertz had used illegalities first, and the goal did not count.

Gabriel Jesus came on for Arsenal and came very close to scoring in the 83rd minute. Diogo Costa made himself big and saved with his legs for a corner. Soon after, Ødegaard shot straight wide on a goalkeeper return. In overtime, the Norwegian did a pirouette and went to the ground in a duel with Pepe, but there was no penalty.

After goalless extra time, however, there were many penalty kicks, and they sent Arsenal to the CL quarter-finals for the first time since 2010. Porto were also beaten then. Back then, an away loss was overturned with 5-0 in the return, on Tuesday it was much more exciting.

Porto have still never won in England. After 23 games, fasit has three draws and 20 losses, and the team has now lost its last seven penalty shootouts in various tournaments.